Some clause structure about “SOURCE said that CLAUSE”?

Question

Suppose we have the following sentences: >John believes that people are good. >Steve knows that France is in Europe. Now, in these sentences we have some clause (e.g. People are good, France is in Europe), and some "source" testifying about this clause (John, Steve) which give different degrees of certainty (belief, knowing). Is there some clause/sentential structure or syntactical pattern for this?

Answer 1

These are examples of "indirect statement," sometimes called "indirect discourse." They are indirect because they are introduced by what is called a "head verb" of speaking, thinking, feeling, believing, knowing, etc. and by the conjunction "that," which is often omitted in informal speech. These clauses are syntactically the objects of the head verb and thus give us the content of the knowledge or belief: John believes X, where X = people are good. Steve knows Y, where Y = France is in Europe.